Health Law

Indictments in Florida Scheme to Sell Stolen Medical Records

By William Maruca

Ambulance-chasing meets the age of electronic records.  The husband and wife team of Ruben E. Rodriguez and Maria Victoria Suarez  have been charged with conspiring with an ambulance company worker to steal personal identification information of individuals transported by Randle Eastern Ambulance Service, Inc., d/b/a American Medical Response ('AMR') and sell the information to various South Florida personal injury attorneys and clinics. This is the second time the couple has been charged with theft and sale of patient records. In a plea bargain agreement he later renounced, Rodriguez admitted to paying a hospital technologist for information from records of accident victims that he then sold to personal injury lawyers for a percentage of damage awards and settlements.  See http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/07/1518101/coral-gables-couple-accused-again.html

According to the FBI press release, the couple faces a maximum of five (5) years' imprisonment for both the conspiracy and fraud in connection with computers. They also face a mandatory consecutive term to any other potential sentence of two (2) years' imprisonment on the aggravated identity theft offenses.

Full post as published by HIPAA Health Law & Technology on March 09, 2010 (boomark / email).